My pick would be Amla. His consistency is incredible and what separates him from other good batsman is that he scores heavily both on subcontinental wickets as well as seam friendly wickets. He is not a flat track bully nor a home condition Bradman. His scores against India in India, Pakistan in Abu Dabi and England in England stands out for me.

Originally Posted by Zunaid
Public warning: all this religion baiting has gone past mildly amusing, to annoying, to seriously abusive of forum rules.

- Admin

Thank you Zunaid bhai !!! If we vote for Amla why does it have to be for religious reason!! Amla has been a consistent test batsman for a long time. Clarke is in super form this year. Cook is good too but I personally feel he has problem when he is in his nervous 90s. So from overall judgement Amla gets the vote. Now I don't think someone should criticize someone else's personal preference. Even if it's religious how does it matter ? Not all the dariwalas in cricket gets the vote. The player still have to have it in them.

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
What now? Don't make up reasons. When did see him pull a Shakib? He converted all his 100s in his last 4 starts as a captain and even before that.

If you wanna vote for Amla just vote for Amla. But you don't have to make up random reasons.

Who is making up stuffs here??? huh !! It's you who made up things like Amla got the votes for religious reason. Cook is one of my fav player and I particularly remember him getting out in his nervous 90s quite a few times. Same happens when he is nearing to his 50s.

Here: Since 2011 he got out in his nervous 90s thrice !!! And got out nearing 50s thrice as well.

Why do you even compare Cook to Shakib . Cook has a test average of 49.37, not even comparable to Shakib. I don't think Shakib will ever be able to get his test batting average past 40.

Originally Posted by Gowza
shakib can get his test batting average past 40 if he learns to convert his half centuries to centuries more often.

And that's where the problem lies. He is very capable of having a average of 45+ but as we know something plays on his mind when he is nearing 100. He seriously have to learn the art of scoring 100s at ease. Why the rush !!

Originally Posted by oronnya
Who is making up stuffs here??? huh !! It's you who made up things like Amla got the votes for religious reason. Cook is one of my fav player and I particularly remember him getting out in his nervous 90s quite a few times. Same happens when he is nearing to his 50s.

Here: Since 2011 he got out in his nervous 90s thrice !!! And got out nearing 50s thrice as well.

Why do you even compare Cook to Shakib . Cook has a test average of 49.37, not even comparable to Shakib. I don't think Shakib will ever be able to get his test batting average past 40.

So you a guy gets out few times in the 90s and he has nervous 90s syndrom? Getting out in the 90s couple of times doesn't necessarily mean they have the "nervous 90s." And I wasn't comparing Cook to Shakib! Where did you get that? I asked if you ever saw Cook ever pull a Shakib, as in do what Shakib does in the 90s.

Everyone gets nervous when they get close to milestone, it's only natural. You can't use that to mark off points. But People like Sachin, Watson, Shakib take it to the next level as they totally change their batting when they get close to 100, act unnatural, and get out. It's visible in their batting, not stats.

Also, you circled nearing 50s? Really? It's in the name, nervous NINETIES. Again, just because list shows a guy got out couple of times nearing a milestone, doesn't mean he has nervousness issues. It's about HOW he got out, not WHEN.

And again, you are making stuff up about the beard. I made it up? My comment was an observation based on the previous comments about his beard and his fasting and what not. Read the thread and calm down with the !!! and the ???

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
So you a guy gets out few times in the 90s and he has nervous 90s syndrom? Getting out in the 90s couple of times doesn't necessarily mean they have the "nervous 90s." And I wasn't comparing Cook to Shakib! Where did you get that? I asked if you ever saw Cook ever pull a Shakib, as in do what Shakib does in the 90s.

Everyone gets nervous when they get close to milestone, it's only natural. You can't use that to mark off points. But People like Sachin, Watson, Shakib take it to the next level as they totally change their batting when they get close to 100, act unnatural, and get out. It's visible in their batting, not stats.

Also, you circled nearing 50s? Really? It's in the name, nervous NINETIES. Again, just because list shows a guy got out couple of times nearing a milestone, doesn't mean he has nervousness issues. It's about HOW he got out, not WHEN.

And again, you are making stuff up about the beard. I made it up? My comment was an observation based on the previous comments about his beard and his fasting and what not. Read the thread and calm down with the !!! and the ???

No sane batsman in the world will pull a Shakib (particularly the last shot he played) so let's leave that example.

Now that was one of my criteria to vote Amla ahead of Cook. If you think getting out in 90s and 40s doesn't mean he is nervous then that's your point of view. If you want to overlook the stats then that's your decision as well. None of us actually know what goes through their mind when they are nearing to their personal milestone. As you said it's only normal. Could be but if one batsman gets out quite a few times nearing a milestone compared to the other then he might still have some issues in controlling his emotions IMHO.

Anyways no point in arguing as all of them are class act. Sometimes one will be in super form and sometimes the other. Like this year Clarke is in extraordinary form, next year it could be Cook. The most important part is who is more consistent over the years !!!

^ If you want to say Cook has the nervous 90s syndrom, you can. But I don't think it's a fact rather your opinion and I can respect that. But from what I have seen, he bats his normal self while nearing a landmark without acting like a Sachin (choking, getting stuck at 90s) or Sehwag (trying to prove a point by getting it with a 6).

It was never about Cook and Amla, again, thanks to the dumb poll, it was about Clarke and Amla.

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
^ If you want to say Cook has the nervous 90s syndrom, you can. But I don't think it's a fact rather your opinion and I can respect that. But from what I have seen, he bats his normal self while nearing a landmark without acting like a Sachin (choking, getting stuck at 90s) or Sehwag (trying to prove a point by getting it with a 6).

It was never about Cook and Amla, again, thanks to the dumb poll, it was about Clarke and Amla.

Just to give you an example why I said that :

Don't get me wrong he is one of my fav player and I follow him very closely and it just breaks my heart when I see him missing those 100s .

^ That's ONE example. And how old is that game? We're talking about current. I'd highly doubt as a captain he would do that again. As a captain this year, in his four starts he got four 100s. His captaincy innings have been super. He is at a new level now.

And I put him behind Amla too. So IDK why we're arguing about Amla vs Cook, when we have the same stance on it.

I was just amazed to see so people not recognizing Clarke's feat and being biased toward Amla for unrelated reasons. Yes, he did those things at home, but still, he had to score those runs.

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
^ That's ONE example. And how old is that game? We're talking about current. I'd highly doubt as a captain he would do that again. As a captain this year, in his four starts he got four 100s. His captaincy innings have been super. He is at a new level now.

And I put him behind Amla too. So IDK why we're arguing about Amla vs Cook, when we have the same stance on it.

I was just amazed to see so people not recognizing Clarke's feat and being biased toward Amla for unrelated reasons. Yes, he did those things at home, but still, he had to score those runs.

Ok good to know that we are on the same page. I gave those stats as you asked why I think Cook has issues while nearing his milestone. And hopefully he'll overcome that as the days passes by. And I agree he is in a new level now.

Before the Aus vs SA test series started Clarke played a fair amount of FC and grade cricket. I was looking thru the scorecards of those matches he seemed to be making consistent 30s and thats it. I thought he wont be in the form that he was in last summer but i was way off the mark when he scored a double century.

How weird is that getting out in the 30s to nobodies in state cricket but scoring double centuries/century when you are facing the likes of Steyn, Morkel and Philander. Goes to show that he is an international performer.

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Gotta be Raju. Just look at his ebharez and batting position. He NOT pom gana!

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People need to be careful about 'averages' because first of all, it doesn't mean you will be hitting that average every game you play in. Secondly!, averages don't really tell the whole story, Shakib started his test career at a very young age so therefore inexperienced bringing his average way too low whereas if you take his test performance in the past 2 years, he averages more than 45 so people just need to be careful about 'overall' averages because it doesn't give you the real picture on players current ability.